BOSTON – While the Yankees certainly miss Bernie Williams, don’t expect Joe Torre to pressure his All-Star center fielder and cleanup hitter into returning before he is completely ready.

Williams missed his fourth straight game last night in order to be with his father, Bernabe, Sr., in Puerto Rico.

“This is something he has to deal with,” said Torre, who heard from Williams Thursday night and doesn’t expect him back before Monday morning’s game against the Red Sox. A better guess would be Tuesday night in Toronto. “I would not be one to tell him to be here when I know his mind is somewhere else.”

And with Bernabe, Sr., in ICU with a pulmonary fibrosis, Williams’ mind is rightfully on his father’s health.

“His dad is in intensive care and he probably won’t be here this weekend,” Torre said. “Obviously, he went home because it was serious enough to go home and that hasn’t changed.”

Torre asked Williams to keep him posted.

Torre started former Red Sox minor leaguer Michael Coleman in center field last night and hoped Coleman wasn’t going to try to hit nine homers against a team and manager, Jimy Williams, who he says never gave him a chance to be a Red Sox.

Torre didn’t get to see much of Coleman, who left the Yanks’ 3-2, 10-inning loss after two at-bats with stiffness in his right hamstring.

“There are plus and minuses to this thing here,” Torre said. “It’s a different left field, but there isn’t a lot of left field out there.”

Knoblauch was not bothered by the world’s most famous handball wall.

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Ramiro Mendoza retired all nine batters he faced and has retired all 12 batters he has worked to this season.

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Shane Spencer begins a rehabilitation stint today for Columbus (Triple-A). How long he stays a Clipper will be determined by his surgically repaired right knee and what the Yankees’ outfield situation looks like.

“A lot depends on our circumstance,” said Torre, who believes Spencer will need every bit of the 20-day rehab stint and knows that optioning Spencer to Columbus could happen. “He has to go and play. That’s the only way he can be comfortable and do all the things he used to do and know he can do it.”

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Despite rumors circulating throughout baseball, the Yankees say they haven’t heard from Sid Fernandez that he has retired again.

Fernandez is currently on Columbus’ seven-day DL with a sore right knee, but club officials say they haven’t been told El Sid had quit.